11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.—The words of King David in Psalm 16:11
The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
You likely have heard the story about the man from New York City who traveled to the northern reaches of Maine and found himself on a backroad terribly lost. Finally he came to a fork in the road. Fortunately a road sign pointed down each lane. But in each direction the sign stated a single word: “Chapman.”
The man sat at the fork in the road puzzled for several minutes wondering which way he should go to reach his destination. Since the sign indicated that both roads led to the same town, the man wondered whether one road offered a safer, more direct route than the other.
Finally, an older gentleman came walking slowly along the road. His stooped posture and scraggly beard marked him as someone who had likely lived in the area a long time. Upon seeing another human, the man from New York City brightened.
“Excuse me, sir,” the man from New York City asked through the open window of his car. “Does it matter which road I take to Chapman?”
The old Mainer stopped for a moment, scratched his beard, looked in the direction of first one of the lanes and then the other. Finally, he looked straight into the eyes of the man from New York City and replied, “Not to me it don’t.”
In the Scripture verse at the beginning of this blog post, King David gives assent to the reality that God has provided a pathway along the road of life: no fork, no crossroad, no question of the direction, just a pathway to follow. As we walk the road of our lives we can experience the joy of knowing that God has done the same for us. He has laid out a path for us. He has given us the indwelling Holy Spirit to lead and guide us along that pathway.
Let us burst forth in joy!
Will you pray with me?
Thank You, God, for loving us. Thank You for sending Jesus to be our Savior. Thank You for sending us Your Holy Spirit to dwell within us.
Precious Father, we sense joy arising within us as we consider the great gift You have given us of a clear pathway to follow as we proceed along the road of life.
We thank You, Precious Father, that—especially in the midst of the chaos of this life—You are the One who controls every aspect of our lives. We choose to rest in Your mercy and grace. And, we thank You for hearing our prayer in and through the precious Name of Your Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
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